Database software
With the volumes of digital data used by businesses growing at exponential rates, having the right information management and database software becomes key to corporate decision-making. While established products such as Oracle, DB2 and Informix remain widely used, open source alternatives such as MySQL and Ingres offer potential alternatives for IT managers. We examine the issues around choosing the right products and strategies for your organisation.
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News
21 Apr 2021
Anti-food-waste app Karma taps up Google Cloud to power global expansion plans
Swedish startup Karma is on a mission to help consumers and businesses across the globe fight food waste, and it has enlisted the Google Cloud Platform to help it achieve its goal Continue Reading
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News
04 Aug 2020
Nordic enterprises look for SAP price reductions as they navigate Covid-19
Businesses in the Nordics are using SAP Cloud Platform to address Covid-19 challenges and are also seeking price reductions Continue Reading
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Blog Post
22 Aug 2016
MariaDB MaxScale: at scale yes, but at a proprietary license cost
MariaDB is a database that was created as a community-developed 'fork' of the MySQL relational database management system and, as such, has always been free to use under the GNU General Public ... Continue Reading
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News
10 Aug 2016
MI5 staff repeatedly overrode data surveillance rules
Security service MI5 is responsible for 210 “clear contraventions” over five years for the way it accessed private internet and telephone data Continue Reading
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News
02 Aug 2016
Panama Papers technology shows data journalism at its best
The open source data analytics and visualisation software of the Panama Papers project empowers a new kind of journalism, says the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists Continue Reading
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News
28 Jul 2016
UK’s top security judges struggle to assess privacy threats
Technological advancements make it difficult for the Investigatory Powers Tribunal to assess privacy threats, say the tribunal’s own judges Continue Reading
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News
08 Jul 2016
New Jersey turns to technology to keep offenders out of jail
New Jersey is developing criminal justice applications that will save offenders from spending years in jail before their cases are heard Continue Reading
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Feature
28 Jun 2016
CW@50: Spreadsheets and ERP – 50 years of software coding business
Business software has been a rich field for IT professionals over the past five decades, and we are on the cusp of a new era of customers rolling their own for competitive advantage Continue Reading
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E-Zine
21 Jun 2016
Will Brexit spell disaster for UK IT?
In this week’s Computer Weekly, as the UK prepares to vote on membership of the EU, we take a detailed look at the effect a possible Brexit could have on the UK technology sector – and hear why experts fear that leaving the EU would be disastrous for IT professionals. Authors Don and Alex Tapscott explain the impact of blockchain technology on CIOs. And we look at the growth of consumer tech in enterprise IT. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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Feature
16 Jun 2016
NoSQL database technology finds use cases, but still minority sport
From managing water meter data, through Bitcoin and video data, to web publishing, NoSQL database technology is finding real use cases. But it's likely to be stuck at 10% of the market for some time Continue Reading
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E-Zine
14 Jun 2016
The password’s the problem – lessons from the LinkedIn breach
In this week’s Computer Weekly, after millions of LinkedIn users had their data compromised, we look at the lessons to be learned from this latest data breach incident. Our buyer’s guide looks at NoSQL technologies and compares the offerings from database leaders Microsoft and Oracle. And we examine the benefits of cloud-based data analytics and how to make it work for your organisation. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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Feature
13 Jun 2016
NoSQL offerings from Microsoft and Oracle
Cloud and big data applications have led to a new wave of NoSQL data stores. We look at what Microsoft and Oracle have to offer Continue Reading
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Feature
02 Jun 2016
For IBM, the answer is Watson. But what is the question?
IBM is promoting its Watson natural language processing analytics technology as it tries to move its core business beyond technologies that it pioneered, but which have become commoditised. Will it fly? Continue Reading
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Feature
17 May 2016
Graph database technology starts to come of age beyond social media
Graph databases, based on mathematics known for three centuries, are starting to yield value for businesses beyond Facebook and Twitter Continue Reading
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News
10 May 2016
Tel Aviv: A smart city where community engagement is the measure of success
Israel’s capital is using the latest technologies as a way of placing the needs of local citizens at the heart of regional government Continue Reading
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E-Zine
10 May 2016
Graph databases are making connections
In this week’s Computer Weekly, the recent global scandal revealed by the Panama Papers relied on graph databases to uncover secrets from huge volumes of data – we look at the business benefits of the technology. Most organisations are failing to take basic IT security measures – we examine why. And we analyse the latest flash storage innovations. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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Feature
22 Apr 2016
CW@50: Data management – Five decades of prospecting for business value
Data management and business intelligence have been at the heart of business value creation for decades. Read about how Computer Weekly has tracked their promise and tribulations Continue Reading
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News
22 Apr 2016
France takes the lead in the global open data race
The appointment of a chief data officer (CDO) has already seen the nation create five different types of economic and social value Continue Reading
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News
21 Apr 2016
GCHQ told analysts to assume surveillance 'bulk data' is legal
Documents obtained by charity Privacy International reveal insights into GCHQ’s collection of sensitive bulk data, as lawyers question the impact of surveillance on legal privilege, fair trials and protection of whistleblowers Continue Reading
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News
15 Apr 2016
Capgemini to build 100-strong team of blockchain specialists
The IT services firm is building a team of 100 blockchain experts as banks start to consider the technology as the future of financial services Continue Reading
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News
30 Mar 2016
Centrica deploys large scale Hortonworks cluster to boost business
Utility company Centrica is looking at how to grow the business by harvesting data lakes Continue Reading
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News
21 Mar 2016
Britain to pay billions for monster internet surveillance network
New questions raised about Britain’s snoopers’ charter after Denmark abandons its own UK-style surveillance programme for a second time Continue Reading
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News
16 Mar 2016
Oracle Q3 2016: cloud revenue grows, US currency strength takes toll
SaaS and PaaS combined contributed $583m in third quarter, up 57% in US dollar terms, while IaaS was down 2% in dollars to $152m Continue Reading
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News
22 Feb 2016
Dutch water wants to move beyond dipping its toes into big data pool
Dutch water company Brabant Water wants to use data to improve the service it provides to customers, as well as identify problems on its distribution network Continue Reading
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E-Zine
18 Feb 2016
CW Europe: February 2016
In Europe cloud is restricted and hybrid setups make use of local compute and storage. Continue Reading
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News
12 Feb 2016
CIO interview: Ismo Platan, SSAB
Retiring CIO of Swedish steel company tells Computer Weekly about the progress made in merging two Nordic steel firms and looks at the biggest hurdles that lie ahead Continue Reading
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News
11 Dec 2015
Case study: Airbus sets out challenges of changing IT supplier
Aircraft manufacturer sets out what it learned from switching IT provider after 12 years of working together Continue Reading
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News
10 Dec 2015
Three tips to help reduce Oracle licensing costs
London councils are spending hundreds of thousands of pounds a year with Oracle. Controlling these costs is the first step in taming Oracle licensing Continue Reading
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News
02 Nov 2015
CIO interview: Torben Høeg Bonde, Vestas
The CIO at Danish wind turbine company Vestas is playing a key role in turning the company into a software supplier Continue Reading
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News
26 Oct 2015
Oracle OpenWorld 2015: Larry Ellison vaunts Oracle’s cloud services over rivals
Larry Ellison promoted his company’s cloud services and berated rivals in his opening keynote at Oracle OpenWorld 2015 Continue Reading
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E-Zine
26 Oct 2015
Blockchain sparks change in banking industry
In this week's Computer Weekly, we find out why blockchain, the technology that underpins bitcoin, is making waves in the banking sector. EasyJet tells us why digital is increasingly important for airlines. And we look at the forces driving digital disruption and why some sectors are changing faster than others. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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News
21 Oct 2015
MySQL 5.7 aims at deeper convergence with Oracle tech and NoSQL
MySQL 5.7 has been released with next-generation hardware in mind, offering greater interoperability with Oracle and NoSQL database technologies Continue Reading
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News
19 Oct 2015
BT Openreach division expands services deal with Infosys to improve support for engineers
BT Openreach is using a software platform from Infosys that draws data from several sources to improve support for its engineers and customers Continue Reading
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News
19 Oct 2015
Opera chooses Workday over Oracle as it moves HR to cloud
Browser company Opera opts for slick internal IT as it competes with Apple and Google for skilled technologists Continue Reading
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News
16 Oct 2015
CIO interview: Martin Thell, Scandic Hotels
The CIO of major Nordic hotel chain Scandic Hotels wants to learn more about customers through technology, without being overbearing Continue Reading
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News
15 Oct 2015
Why blockchain heralds a rethink of the entire banking industry
Blockchain, the distributed ledger technology behind bitcoin, is both a threat and an opportunity for financial services – and the banks are taking it very seriously Continue Reading
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News
13 Oct 2015
RBS to pilot product based on blockchain technology in 2016
Royal Bank of Scotland is among the early adopters of distributed ledger technology that could shake up the banking industry Continue Reading
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News
05 Oct 2015
Workday seeks growth, not profit, as it expands in Europe
Cloud services company Workday is setting its sights on growth as it expands from cloud HR, to finance, learning and analytics Continue Reading
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News
02 Oct 2015
Keeping up with Cassandra, the NoSQL database
What does Call of Duty, the Hive smart thermostats, Social Weather and the William Hill bookie app all have in common? They are all powered by the Apache Cassandra NoSQL database Continue Reading
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News
21 Sep 2015
Health chief 'should be held to account' for whistleblow errors
Former nurse and clincial commissioner Bernie Rochford claims unfair dismissal after blowing the whistle on IT problems which put patient care at risk Continue Reading
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News
15 Sep 2015
NHS trust denies bullying and intimidation of IT whistleblower
Managers were already aware of whistleblower's concerns about the accuracy of NHS Southwark's data, tribunal hears Continue Reading
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News
10 Sep 2015
Cloudian boosts object storage HyperStore compliance features
Distributed object storage software maker Cloudian upgrades HyperStore with added granularity of data protection features that can help meet compliance requirements Continue Reading
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Feature
14 Aug 2015
Types of NoSQL databases and key criteria for choosing them
In a book excerpt, consultant Dan Sullivan offers insights into how to select the right type of NoSQL database for the right application in your organization. Continue Reading
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Feature
07 Aug 2015
SAP HANA in-memory DBMS overview
SAP HANA is an in-memory DBMS and application platform designed to handle high transaction rates and complex queries using one data copy. Continue Reading
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Feature
31 Jul 2015
Redis open source DBMS overview
The Redis open source DBMS provides a highly scalable data store that can be shared by multiple processes, applications or servers. Continue Reading
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Feature
27 Jul 2015
MySQL open source RDBMS overview
Developers, database administrators and DevOps teams use MySQL open source RDBMS to more easily operate next-generation applications in the cloud. Continue Reading
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News
23 Jul 2015
Software project will save Ford tens of millions a year in car repair bills
Car maker Ford is rolling out sophisticated warranty software to 12,000 dealers worldwide in a project that is expected to bring rapid financial returns Continue Reading
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News
21 Jul 2015
Mainframe fails to save IBM from 13th declining quarter
IBM's second-quarter revenue was down 13% year-on-year to $20.8bn, but IBM said the decline is only 1%, adjusting for the sale of its x86 server business and the impact of the strong dollar Continue Reading
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News
20 Jul 2015
Comparethemarket uses Cloudera to gain single view of customer data
Price comparison site Comparethemarket has turned to Cloudera’s Hadoop distribution to get a better view of customer data from different channels. Doug Cutting, the father of Hadoop, explains Continue Reading
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News
30 Jun 2015
Top suppliers as UK software and services market approaches £50bn
The top five software and IT services firms in the UK are Capita, HP, IBM, Capgemini and Accenture, according to the latest figures from TechMarketView Continue Reading
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News
19 Jun 2015
Google eyes Tesco’s customer analytics arm Dunnhumby
Google is reported to have joined the scramble to buy Dunnhumby, the customer analytics unit behind Tesco’s Clubcard Continue Reading
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News
18 Jun 2015
The diagram that scares the next generation of banking IT professionals
The next generation of IT professionals in the banking sector will face the same legacy headache as their predecessors Continue Reading
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News
17 Jun 2015
Royal Bank of Scotland goes back to 1970s values with big data
RBS, once the world's largest bank, is using analytics technology to go back to the era of personal customer service Continue Reading
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E-Zine
01 Jun 2015
Google’s big data vision
In this week’s Computer Weekly, we examine Google’s 11-year big data journey from MapReduce to Cloud Bigtable, the internet giant’s latest NoSQL database service. We look at the role of mobile technology in helping to join up health and social care in the UK. And John Lewis IT director Paul Coby talks about the IT challenges of creating an omni-channel retailer. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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News
12 May 2015
Former nurse’s career blighted after blowing whistle on IT problems
Southwark's continuing care database included names of patients who had been dead for several years, a tribunal is told Continue Reading
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News
05 May 2015
Sapphire 2015: McDermott declares SAP natively digital
SAP CEO Bill McDermott declares the company “digital” at Sapphire 2015 and made “empathy” the watchword of his keynote Continue Reading
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Feature
25 Apr 2015
Bill Binney, the ‘original’ NSA whistleblower, on Snowden, 9/11 and illegal surveillance
Always a patriot: Computer Weekly talks to Bill Binney, the senior NSA official who blew the whistle before Edward Snowden Continue Reading
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Feature
24 Apr 2015
Apache Spark speeds up big data decision-making
Spark, the open-source cluster computing framework from Apache, promises to complement Hadoop batch processing Continue Reading
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News
19 Mar 2015
Holland & Barrett outsources data handling to ITC Infotech
IT services firm ITC Infotech manages customer data for health food business to help it glean business value from the information Continue Reading
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Feature
13 Mar 2015
How building information modelling is changing the construction industry
The Cabinet Office says that by 2016, “collaborative 3D building information modelling will be required on all government projects” Continue Reading
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News
21 Jan 2015
Case study: Hedge fund AHL Man Group uses MongoDB to feed quants with data
Hedge fund AHL Man Group replaces disparate relational databases with a single data platform built on NoSQL database MongoDB Continue Reading
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News
20 Jan 2015
SAP’s Cohen on 2014 results: Europe strong north and south
SAP’s Emea president Franck Cohen optimistic about the supplier’s growth prospects in southern and northern Europe Continue Reading
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News
07 Jan 2015
Oracle will lose out unless it changes its software licensing
In an open letter, Campaign for Clear Licensing highlights the risk to Oracle’s future earnings due to aggressive licensing Continue Reading
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News
12 Dec 2014
Care.data faces more delays over concerns about patients
The NHS’s Care.data scheme may face more delays due to concerns over lack of publicity and clarity of the proposed programme Continue Reading
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News
13 Nov 2014
AWS launches Aurora cloud-based relational database engine
AWS launches an open-source relational database engine called Aurora at its re:Invent 2014 cloud conference Continue Reading
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News
11 Nov 2014
What to expect from AWS re:Invent 2014
Amazon is all set to unveil new services and features at its AWS re:Invent 2014 Continue Reading
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News
11 Nov 2014
Qantas puts Oracle ERP in the cloud with Tata Consultancy Services
Airline Qantas signs IT outsourcing services firm TCS to upgrade its Oracle ERP platform and move it into the cloud Continue Reading
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News
07 Nov 2014
Police forces use private cloud to access Holmes database
Police forces across the UK will access the Holmes major investigation system via a private cloud service Continue Reading
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News
04 Nov 2014
Airbus interview: research, innovation and the future of aviation
IT plays a substantial role in creating the aircraft of the future, with research and innovation at the core of the Airbus business strategy Continue Reading
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Photo Story
01 Nov 2014
Inside Kashiwa-no-ha: Hitachi Smart City near Tokyo
Hitachi shares what its Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City looks like near Tokyo, Japan. Continue Reading
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News
27 Oct 2014
Met Police trials analytics to fight gang crime
The Metropolitan Police is experimenting with analytics software to help predict which criminals are likely to re-offend Continue Reading
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News
27 Oct 2014
CIO interview: David Johnstone of Martin Currie Investment Management
The head of solutions management at the asset management firm discusses IT projects and the changing role of IT leaders Continue Reading
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News
27 Oct 2014
Hitachi Data Systems ploughs ahead with social innovation plans
Hitachi Innovation Forum expects 16,000 delegates to share user cases on how technology is making society safer Continue Reading
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E-Zine
03 Oct 2014
CW Europe - October 2014 Edition
BYOD policies: What’s allowed and what’s banned? As IT departments still try to come to terms with the notion of BYOD, CW Europe takes a look at what policies are being implemented to keep security under control. Continue Reading
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Feature
25 Sep 2014
Q&A: MarkLogic CEO Gary Bloom talks strategy
Gary Bloom, CEO of NoSQL database supplier MarkLogic, talks to Computer Weekly about strategy Continue Reading
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News
03 Sep 2014
Morgan Motor Company swaps Sage for integrated IFS
Morgan Motor Company is replacing its Sage 500 accounting system with IFS Applications Continue Reading
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News
29 Aug 2014
Tesco to reduce IT spend in a bid to cut costs
Supermarket giant Tesco has announced that it will be cutting costs from its IT budget to save money Continue Reading
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News
13 Aug 2014
Home Office pours £3.8m into shared service for biometric cards
The Home Office has awarded a £3.8m contract to Thales for a service to support the production of Biometric Residence Permit cards Continue Reading
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News
08 Aug 2014
Government breaks grip of IT oligopoly
Figures for public sector software and IT services investments reveal a dwindling share for IT giants, but can the oligopoly be removed? Continue Reading
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News
28 Jul 2014
Oracle in-memory option creates licensing pain and audit risk
A former Oracle employee has highlighted a major issue in the way the new Oracle Database 12c Release 12.1.0.2 is licensed Continue Reading
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News
22 Jul 2014
NAO reveals Home Office spent £347m on failed ICW programme
The Home Office spent £347m closing its Immigration Case Work programme, which was supposed to replace legacy databases Continue Reading
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Feature
24 Jun 2014
Unilever puts SAP at the captain’s table
Consumer goods company Unilever works hand in glove with SAP in “speeding up its growth”, according to senior executives at the two firms Continue Reading
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News
20 Jun 2014
Centrica's datacentre move to HP still not complete after three and a half years
Centrica is yet to transfer its entire datacentre operations to HP despite signing a contract with the supplier in 2010 Continue Reading
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Photo Story
16 Jun 2014
What’s new in SQL Server 2014
We give Microsoft’s latest release of SQL Server a test drive to find out if the new features really make the effort of upgrading worthwhile Continue Reading
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E-Zine
16 Jun 2014
The Met Office turns to open source
In this week’s Computer Weekly, we find out why the Met Office turned to an open source database to replace Oracle at the UK weather forecasting service. We take an in-depth look at Microsoft’s SQL Server 2014 release. And we analyse the revolutionary potential of cloud computing. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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News
12 Jun 2014
HSBC makes executives responsible for application consolidation
In the next few weeks, senior executives at HSBC globally will have KPIs to reduce the number of applications they run Continue Reading
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News
04 Jun 2014
Sapphire 2014: Plattner restates radical, in-memory computing future
SAP's Hasso Plattner restates his case that enterprise applications face a radical future, based on in-memory computing Continue Reading
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News
03 Jun 2014
Sapphire 2014: SAP CEO McDermott declares war on ‘complexity’ and sets Fiori free
Bill McDermott, SAP CEO, devoted his opening keynote at Sapphire 2014 to declaring war on business process “complexity” Continue Reading
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Feature
28 May 2014
In-memory databases - what they do and the storage they need
In-memory databases offer high performance data processing, but how do you protect data in volatile DRAM and what kind of storage is needed for longer term retention? Continue Reading
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News
23 May 2014
Business Objects use increases among SAP users, but Hana uptake low
More UK and Ireland SAP customers are using Business Objects now than even two years ago, but only 15% are using Hana Continue Reading
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News
19 May 2014
SAP certifies core business apps to run on Microsoft Azure
From June, users of SAP Business Suite software, Business All-In-One solution, SAP Mobile Platform, SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise and Hana platform will be able to run them on Azure Continue Reading
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News
01 May 2014
Co-operative Bank report reveals challenge of legacy IT replacement
A report into the £1.5bn losses at Co-operative Bank reveals numerous failures in a project to replace core banking systems Continue Reading
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News
23 Apr 2014
Optimising the data warehouse
Analysts Clive Longbottom and Rob Bamforth discuss approaches to optimising data warehouses for big data. Continue Reading
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News
23 Apr 2014
The mid-market conundrum
Analysts Bob Tarzey and Bob Brown look at how mid market organisations can achieve 'best in class' IT applications with limited resources. Continue Reading
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News
31 Mar 2014
Ministry of Justice to invest up to £375m in court and tribunal technology reform
The Ministry of Justice has announced a five-year programme to update and replace technology used in courts and tribunals across the UK Continue Reading
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Tip
25 Mar 2014
Seven secrets of SQL Server Management Studio
SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is the principal interface for working with Microsoft SQL Server. However, many subtleties of this powerful tool evade even the most seasoned professionals Continue Reading
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Feature
25 Mar 2014
Using NoSQL databases to gain competitive advantage
NoSQL is attracting growing interest from businesses - we examine three case studies: Amadeus, i2O and Temetra Continue Reading
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News
20 Mar 2014
Application support and maintenance costs increase 29%
The cost of supporting and maintaining applications is increasing every year for Global 2000 companies in the US and UK, according to a study of 300 CIOs Continue Reading
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News
19 Mar 2014
Oracle finally sees revenue growth from hardware business
Oracle has finally seen a boost from its server business, with hardware sales up 8% in its latest financial results Continue Reading
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News
04 Mar 2014
Airport IT Trends Survey
Airports are spending a larger slice of their revenues on technology as they look to improve the passenger experience, this major study from SITA reveals. Continue Reading
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Feature
27 Feb 2014
Hadoop 2 opens new vistas beyond current UK data management practice
Hadoop 2 enables a greater range of data-crunching tasks, beyond Hadoop’s previous scope of batch processing, directly within the stack itself Continue Reading
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News
27 Feb 2014
RBS to tidy up systems mess
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) outlines plans to cut costs and improve customer services, slashing the number of IT systems in the process Continue Reading